Yesterday, I had the amazing experience of meeting two high school creative writing classes at Timber Creek High School in Orlando, Florida – without leaving my home! This was not only the first school presentation I’ve given (uh, not counting my daily lessons as a 5th grade teacher), but also my first time presenting via SKYPE.

I have to thank Amanda Burford of The Newbie Novelist for the opportunity to meet with her two classes. (I met Amanda through WriteOnCon, by the way.) It was Amanda’s idea to do the SKYPE, and despite my initial nervousness about relying on the technology – it all went very smoothly!

It’s pretty cool to give a presentation in your own home. Since they were only seeing me from the waist up – I could have worn my pajama bottoms if I wanted to. (I didn’t though.) Okay, so my dog licked my face at one point, and the phone started ringing (I dropped it on the floor and kicked it out of the room). One of the hardest things for me to do was talk to the camera on the top of the monitor instead of to the picture of the students on the screen. I think I got better at it, but it was hard to fight that impulse to talk to their faces.

They had some great questions for me: ranging from the process of writing, fighting writer’s block, getting published, and finding inspiration. Apparently, their original list of questions also included: Is your husband hot? But their teacher edited that one out. (Of course he is.)

Anyway, it was a fabulous experience and one I’d be happy to repeat …

Moving on to other business — I want to extend a HAPPY BIRTHDAY greeting to my blogging friend Lenny! For those of you who don’t know Lenny, please check out his blog. I won’t tell you exactly how old Lenny is, but let’s just say that Lenny’s age REALLY brings down the average age of my group of blogging buddies. And that’s just one of many reasons to love him!

Lenny’s a fantastic writer – he fooled the heck out of me during Jen Daiker’s Guess My Character Blogfest. He is also a walking advertisement for my book, since he’s fond of wearing the We Hear the Dead t-shirt he won in Candyland’s contest. And he might just be his brother’s secret weapon when it comes to getting a date …

hi miss dianne! wow that skype thing sounds pretty cool. id be afraid id burp or have spinach on my teeth. ha ha im glad you liked and could want to do it again. its cool that you could wear pjs on the bottom if you could want. thanks for the nice birthday post. i got soooo much wishes and love from so much of my blogger friends. im puttin it in my heart and keeping it there forever. this was the most best birthday ever!!…hugs from lenny

Amanda, Thanks again for inviting me!My husband brought that necklace back from HAUNTED Catalina Island — coincidence? You bet not!

Lenny — you are very welcome for the birthday wishes, BUT my computer says you posted that at 1:57 pm EST. WHAT were you doing up that late, young man???! Just kidding. I hope you made that birthday last and last!

And to everyone else: Psst… I was scared out of my wits presenting over the computer at first, but in the end it was pretty cool!

Who Am I?

This is the website of Dianne K. Salerni, author of the MG fantasy series The Eighth Day (HarperCollins), and YA historical novels The Caged Graves (Clarion/HMH) and We Hear the Dead (Sourcebooks).